Once a Bother
by amy1oM-InnitMarvelous
Summary: Rhodey gives everyone a major scare concerning his health. Part of the SIDES version of my GREATEST REWARD verse!
1. Chapter 1

When he'd later look back on it, and try as he might, Tony wouldn't be able to tell you what they'd been arguing about. Oh yes, they sometimes got into arguments, a fact that wouldn't surprise most people who knew their history and how long they'd known one another. All he would remember about the argument... no *fight* was that they were both genuinely angry with each other, which had unfortunately lead to some words neither of them would have ever said or mean under normal circumstances.

"I don't * _believe_ * you!" Pepper said, her eyes furiously smoldering, her hands planted firmly on her hips.

"I don't know why you wouldn't! I mean _how_ long have we known each other?" Tony countered, his eyes equally as angry as his wife's were.

"Apparently _not_ long enough because I didn't see _this_ kind of thing coming from you!" she countered. "I mean of all the immature, childish, idiotic-"

"Pardon the interruption," JARVIS's voice suddenly interjected.

"What is it, JARVIS?" Tony asked glaring in his wife's direction while trying to ignore the fact that the AI sounded relieved to have a reason to intervene.

"Sir, I have Mrs. Tanesha Hobson on the line. She says she needs to speak to you immediately."

The angry flush in Pepper's face was immediately replaced by a paleness of concern before she asked, "Tanesha Hobson? Isn't she-"

Tony nodded, "Rhodey's sister, yeah. Put her through now, J."

"Yes, Sir."

A second later they heard a woman's voice, "Hello, Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, I'm here, Mrs. Hobson." Normally he would have told her again to call him Tony but he heard the urgency in her voice, plus she had _called_ him. "What's wrong?"

They heard Tanesha take an audible, shaky breath on the line, and then she said, "James is in the hospital because... well I, that is, we think he may have had a heart attack."

Pepper gasped, and Tony stared at her wide eyed.

"What?" he finally managed to get out.

"My brother may have had a heart attack," Rhodey's sister repeated. "Hello?"

Pepper snapped out of the shock first, "Mrs. Hobson, it's Pepper, Tony's wife. How serious is Jim's condition? Do you need us to come to the hospital?"

"I-I don't know how serious it is yet. The doctors are still running tests. I called you because their preliminary tests said it was a heart attack, and if it was they say they'll want to schedule my brother for surgery as soon as possible. So yeah I guess I guess you need to come here."

Pepper looked at Tony, who was clearly still in shock, and shook her head. "Mrs. Hobson, I'm going to have your call transferred over to my phone to get the details. JARVIS, If we get cut off, you have her phone number, right?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Grabbing a pen, Pepper left Tony alone to seek out a piece of paper. For several minutes he stood rooted to the spot where she had left him, listening to her voice carry over from the next room as she took down the information.

"Tony?" she said when she returned to the room, and received no response. "Tony, can you please give me some kind of response because you're really starting to worry me?"

He blinked, and finally looked at her, "Did I ever tell you that a suspected heart attack is what took… killed Jarvis?"

"Suspected? The coroner didn't know for sure?"

Tony shrugged, "No autopsy. Jarvis was old… and since the police found no signs of foul play anywhere in the house, the coroner ruled that his death had been caused by natural causes brought on by a suspected heart attack."

At hearing the worry, the fear in his voice, Pepper put down what was in her hands, and crossed the room. She pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him, saying gently, "I'm so sorry that you lost him that way." She knew that the old butler had been almost like a father to Tony and she knew the sudden loss of him had devastated her husband more than the loss of his actual father had. "But you're not going to lose your brother the same way."

"You don't know that. Not for sure."

Pepper felt him lay his head on her shoulder, his arms tightening around her, "No, I don't know that for but Jim is a whole lot younger than Jarvis was when he died, and he's getting medical attention right now." When she felt him nod, she continued, "You know that it is completely possible that whatever is going on that it's possible that it wasn't a heart attack, right? I mean Tanesha did say when she called the doctors were still running tests. This could turn out to be something that is just one huge, scary but very FALSE alarm."

"I hope you're right. Oh man, how I hope you're right."

She held onto him for a moment longer, then said, "Do you want to go to the hospital and wait with them for news?"

"Yeah, I'd like to to go."

"Then let's get ready and go, okay?"

"Okay."

They parted with that, and Pepper started towards the bathroom. Tony's voice stopped just short of the door.

"Wait a second. The kids… should we take them with us?"

HIs wife thought about it for a second, "No, I don't think so."

"If Rhodey's seriously sick…"

"Tony, they're kids. I don't think we should hide the truth from them if this turns out to be something very serious. But right now for all we know he has a bad case of heartburn-"

"Pep, come on? Heartburn?"

"Hey, don't dismiss the possibility since I've actually heard of that before. Anyway, with everyone else currently at the tower, I think we should leave them here until we know something more concrete."

"If you're sure…"

"I am. In fact why don't I go ahead, call Natasha, tell her what's going on, and ask her if she or Clint would mind if the kids stayed down there tonight while we're gone." Ethan and Eva had gone down to the Bartons' floor to play with their children earlier that morning, thankfully sometime before their parents' fight had begun.

Tony nodded, "I'll get ready while you're doing that."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Please note that this story has expanded into a three part.

I will explain the title in the notes of the epilogue.

* * *

They had arrived at the Akron hospital that Rhodey had been admitted to a little over two hours from when they received the phone call from his sister. Tanesha had told Pepper to come straight to the cardiology wing of the hospital once they arrived there, and not seeing any signs of her or her husband, Pepper called out to a passing nurse, "Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"We're looking for the family of James Rhodes."

The nurse looked down at her chart, "I don't have a Rhodes family listed here."

"It's probably under his sister's name then. Her name is Hobson," Tony said a little impatiently.

Fortunately the woman either didn't notice or chose to ignore his tone and looked at her notes again, "Here they are. The Hobsons are in Family Waiting Room Number Three." She pointed them in the direction.

"Thank you," Pepper said.

The woman nodded and continued on her way.

Once she was gone, Pepper elbowed him.

"Oww, what was that for?"

"You were a bit rude to her!"

He rubbed his side, nodding, "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I'm just worried about my best friend, you know?"

She sighed, "I know." Touching his face, "Come on, let's go let them know we're here and see if they know anything yet."

Together they entered the waiting room a moment later, and instantly they spotted Tanesha seated on the other side of the room leaning against her husband, and a toddler asleep on her lap. Tanesha's eyes had snapped to the door when she heard it open, and the disappointment on her face that they weren't a doctor was obvious. She carefully handed the baby over to a younger woman that Pepper guessed was probably her daughter, and she stood up to walk across the room to them.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting to see either of you here today," she said.

Other than give her a nod, Pepper didn't acknowledge her statement, instead asking, "Have you heard anything from the doctors yet?"

She sighed, "They're still running tests."

"Wow it's taking them a long time to do that," Tony stated, and immediately grunted when Pepper elbowed him again. "All I'm saying is that it's been hours, right?" A nod from Rhodey's sister confirmed that. "Shouldn't they know _something_ by now?"

Tanesha shrugged, "Sometimes it takes awhile to get back test results."

"Yeah but it's taking them _this_ long?"

"Medicine can't be rushed, Mr. Stark. As much as I wish it could be, there's just nothing for it sometimes but to wait," she replied, her years of experience as a nurse giving weight to her words.

Tony had opened his mouth to say something else but his wife's hand prevented him from saying whatever he was going to say. She smiled at Tanesha, and said, "Of course, we understand that. Right, honey?"

Tony mumbled something from underneath her hand, and then nodded.

"Would you like to sit down while we wait for the doctor?"

"Yes, please."

As Rhodey's sister returned to her seat, Pepper withdrew her hand and muttered, "Behave!"

"All I'm saying is-"

"I know what you're saying but can you try to find a way to express what you're thinking in a way that doesn't sound so rude or…"

"Childish?"

"Yes," Pepper said with a long sigh. "Sorry."

"No, I'm the one who should be saying that because I'm the one who is being an idiot, and I _am_ sorry," Tony replied, scratching the back of his neck. "And it's not just because of the way I've been acting since we got the news about Rhodey. I mean I am sorry about earlier."

She smiled and kissed his cheek, "We can talk about that later but thank you for saying that." Sliding her hand into his, she added, "Why don't we go sit down now?"

"Okay."

They were crossing the room to sit down when the door to the opened to admit inside a woman dressed in a lab coat and scrubs. "Rhodes family? James Rhodes?"

Tanesha jumped up in a flash, and said, "That's us...uh me. James Rhodes is my brother."

"I'm Dr. Herbert, I'm the cardiologist who has been treating your brother since he was brought in for a suspected heart attack."

A voice spoke up from across the room. "And?"

The doctor looked away from Tanesha, and didn't ask who the owner of the voice was because she already knew the answer. Instead she responded with, "I'm sorry, sir, but this is a private discussion meant for the family of Mr. Rhodes."

Pepper and Tanesha's intervention is the only thing that kept Tony from retorting as the latter woman said, "It's okay, Dr. Herbert. Mr. and Mrs. Stark are here because my brother would want them here. It's okay you to say whatever it is you have to say in front of them. They're family."

The doctor looked uncertain, nodded, then began, "I'm sorry for the delay in updates on your brother's condition but I wanted to be certain that the results were right. We ran a test to look for the enzymes that are indicative of a heart attack as well as an EKG. Both tests came back negative."

Cautious relief crossed Tanesha's face, "So he's okay then? He didn't have a heart attack?"

"No, I don't believe that he did since both those test were negative."

"But?" Rhodey's sister prompted.

"But I'd like to Mr, Rhodes overnight for observation and schedule him for a stress test tomorrow morning just to be sure that we haven't missed anything and that the other two tests results were correct since your brother's primary symptom was chest pain."

"Alright if you think that's necessary."

"At this point I am ninety five percent confident that both will be a precaution and nothing more."

Tanesh nodded, "When we will be able to see James?"

"After we get him settled into a room I'll have a nurse come and get you."

"Thank you, Doctor."

As the doctor left the room, Tanesha's husband came over to hug her, and she leaned into his arms with relief. "He's going to be okay. Thank God!" They held each other for a few minutes until she looked back to see her brother's best friend and wife approaching them.

"We are so relieved to hear that he's okay," Pepper said. "But we're not going to intrude on your family time anymore."

"You're leaving?"

Tony nodded, while his wife said, "Yes, we are."

"But you're leaving before you've seen James, and I'm he'll want to see you both since you're here."

"I'm not so sure," Tony muttered.

"What?"

"Oh ignore him! If you're sure?"

"I am. I think my brother will be disappointed if you leave without seeing him first."

"Well…"

"Please… stay."

Pepper glanced at her husband, and she could see that he wanted to stay to see with his own eyes that his friend was alright. "Okay, we'll stay."


	3. Epilogue

While Tony was taking care of the bellhop's tip, Pepper walked through their suite to the bedroom, where she fell back onto the king-sized bed once there. From the argument she had been having with Tony, through the phone call that had led them to fly to Akron, to the hours they had stayed at the hospital visiting with the man who was so dear to their family, she was _exhausted_. Half a minute later she cracked her eyes open when she felt her husband flop down on the space beside her.

Although it was all but confirmed that Rhodey was fine heart wise, they had elected to spend the night in Ohio, so they could hear the results of his stress tomorrow morning in person instead of having to wait for Tanesha's call. They also decided to stay not only because they knew that their kids were in good hands with Clint and Natasha but because they were both bone tired. A two hour flight back to New York on top of everything that had already happened that day didn't sound too appealing.

"Long day, huh?" he said, his arm sprawled over his eyes. "Who knew that acid re-flux could be bad enough to mimic the symptoms of a heart attack?" When they had finally seen him, an embarrassed Rhodey had told them that Dr. Herbert had told him that the likely cause of his chest pain was in all likelihood had just been a very bad case of heartburn.

"Although we know that now, I still want us to get checked out by a doctor if either of us ever starts having chest pains because it could still be a heart attack."

"Yeah."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I."

Tony could hear the tired irritation in her voice, and moving his arm away from his eyes, he looked at her, "Let's not pick up where we left off on the fight we were having this morning please."

"Or pick a new one. Agreed. I am way too tired to fight and besides I think you already apologized for earlier. Let me just say that I'm sorry for earlier too."

"But you weren't the one who started it."

Pepper sat up, and looked at him. "No, but I said some things I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry for that. Please accept my apology?"

"Of course I do!" he replied, sitting up to kiss her.

After they pulled apart, she asked, "So do you want to order Room Service or go down to the restaurant downstairs for dinner?"

"Let's order Room Service please."

Pepper let out a relieved breath, "Thank goodness you said Room Service because I just realized that I'm too tired to even go to the restaurant."

Giving his wife a tired smile of agreement, "I'll get the menu."

* * *

 **AN:** The title of the story is take from this quote: _A friend is a brother who was once a bother. ~Author Unknown_

Thank you for reading!


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